MATTHEW 24:29-31, 36-51
A SECOND-AND THIRD-CENTURY Roman clergyman calculated that Jesus would return in AD 500. His prediction was based on the dimensions of Noah’s Ark. Christ did not return at that time. On January 1, 1000 many Believers in Europe, as you can imagine, predicted the end of the world. Sadly, some Believers, if they can be called that, reacted to that millennial mark in a military fashion. As the first of the year approached, Christian armies traveled to some of the pagan countries in Northern Europe in order to make converts, by force if necessary, before Christ returned. Christ did not return then. In 1415 the Taborites, a group greatly influenced by the apocalyptic writings of Joachim of Fiore (ca. 1135-1202), thought that Christ would return once they shed “the blood of the enemies of Christ”— i.e., defeated their persecutors. The group disbanded after they didn’t fare so well against the German army. Christ did not return. Also in the Middle Ages, Pope Innocent III took the number 618 (the year Islam was founded) and added the number 666 (the number of the beast) to get 1284 as the year of Christ’s final judgment. Christ did not return.
On February 14, 1835 Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of the Latter Day Saints, called a meeting of Mormon leaders. He announced that Jesus would return within fifty-six years (History of the Church, 2:182). Earlier, in or around the year 1832, Smith wrote in Doctrines and Covenants, 130.17, “I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written—the Son of Man will not come in the clouds till I am eighty-five years old.” Smith would have been eighty-five in 1890. Unfortunately a mob murdered him before his thirty-ninth birthday. Christ did not return. William Miller, founder of a popular end-times movement that bore his name—“Millerism”—predicted
that the second coming would occur sometime between 1843 and 1844. Christ did not return. In 1874 Charles Taze Russell, founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement, from which came the Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watchtower and Tract Society) and other organizations, predicted the rapture in 1910, followed by the end of the world and Christ’s invisible return in 1914. Christ did not return (or at least no one saw him).
In 1986 the group The Children of God predicted that Russia would defeat the United States and Israel, establishing a worldwide dictatorship. Then, in 1993, Christ would return. Christ did not return. In 1988 Whisenant Edgar wrote the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Is in 1988, and Colin Deal wrote Christ Returns by 1988. Those books sold over four million copies. Christ did not return. Lee Jang Rim of the church Mission for the Coming Days prophesied that Jesus would return through the Sydney Harbor on October 28, 1992. Christ did not return (and sadly, Rim did not return as well, walking away with 4.4 million dollars from his followers’ life savings). In 1998 a Taiwanese cult in Texas claimed that Christ would return and invite the faithful followers aboard a UFO. Christ did not return (and to my knowledge, no UFO was spotted). Also in 1998—a good year for such prophecies, as 666 times three equals 1998—psychic Edgar Cayce taught that a secret, underground chamber would be discovered between the paws of the Great Sphinx in Egypt. Within that chamber would be documents about the history of the lost city of Atlantis. This new revelation would activate the second coming of Christ. Christ did not return. In 2000... well, the list of prophecies is too long. Each time Christ did not return.
To give one final example, Harold Camping (earlier in September 1994 and again 106 days ago before this tract was preached) predicted the end of the world. He advertised on his fifty-five radio stations and on 6,000 billboards, “Judgment Day is coming - May 21,2011. The Bible guarantees it!” You could even sign up for a live Twitter feed at Twitter.com/endofworldmay21. I doubt that Twitter feed is feeding anything now. Christ did not return. Camping then, without apology for his earlier false prediction, named October 21,2011 as the right date for Christ’s return. Again Christ did not return.
We might laugh at some of these scenarios. But of course those false predictions are no laughing matter, for those who made such empty claims brought Christ and Christianity into disrepute. Those who made them were either ignorant of or disobedient to Jesus’ clearest sentence in the often unclear Olivet Discourse: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (v. 36). Jesus is saying there, “Only God knows.” Only God knows the timing of Christ’s coming.
I’m certain that what R. T. France wrote about that verse is right: “In view of such plain statements as this, it is astonishing that some Christians can still attempt to work out the date of the parousia!” And I’m not so sure that William Barclay’s scolding is far off when he wrote, “Speculation regarding the time of the Second Coming is nothing less than blasphemy, for the man who so speculates is seeking to wrest from God secrets which belong to God alone.” Michael Green agrees. He also calls such prophecies “blasphemous” and adds a rabbinic maxim: “He who announces the messianic times based on calculations forfeits his share in the future.” Perhaps so.
What Is Not Known
Look with me now at the start of verse 36, which reads, “But concerning that day and hour...” The term “that day” and “[that] hour” are synonymous terms that refer to what the Old and New Testaments calls "the day of the Lord” or judgment day and the New Testament calls “the parousia,” the Greek word for “coming”—used in 24:39,42,43,44,46,50; 25:10, 19, 27— what the Ecclesia call the second coming.
Concerning when that time in history will be, Jesus says, “no one knows... but the Father only.” “The angels of heaven” don’t know. The Heaven sent Son doesn’t know. The highest heavenly created beings don't know. (And yet some Christians think they know. I don’t get it.) God the Father alone has such knowledge.
That is clear enough. What is not so clear to us is why Jesus doesn’t know. It’s “unsettling” that the Son—who is so intimate with the Father throughout the Gospels—doesn’t know something his Father does." Or more of a problem to a Trinitarian is, how is it that the second person of the Trinity doesn’t know something? Doesn’t Jesus know everything?
Jesus is omnipresent, yet he traveled from place to place by foot (typically) or by boat or donkey (occasionally). When Jesus wanted to go to Jerusalem, he walked. He didn't stand in Capernaum and tell the disciples “Since I am omnipresent, I am already in Jerusalem, so I'll stay here and see you there when you arrive!” When he walked, he laid aside his omnipresence.
Jesus is omnipotent, yet unless he ate food he became hungry. Without sleep, he became tired. Eventually he slept—hard (Matt. 8:23-25). He did not draw on his omnipotence to fill his empty stomach or to refresh his weary body.
Jesus asked genuine questions in the Gospels. In Mark 5:30-32, Jesus asked “Who touched me?” and “looked around” to see who it might be. In Mark 9:16, he asked the disciples, “What are you arguing about... ?” In John 5:6, he asked a man how long he had been sick. On other occasions, he asked visitors, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matt. 20:32; cp. 20:21).
Indeed, if Jesus had constantly exercised divine attributes, he would not have led a genuine human life. If he endured no human limitations, his humanity was a charade. If the crucifixion caused Jesus no pain, how could he suffer for us? If no bodily desires touched him, how can we say he was “ in every respect... tempted” as we are (Heb. 4:15)?
So Jesus truly did not know when he would return. He did not need to know, nor do we. He finished his work, so he is ready to return.
However, another question arose in my mind, that question being: does Jesus now know? That is, now that Jesus has returned to the glory that was his before the world began—does he now know the time of his return? I e-mailed my question to a world-class Gospels scholar, and he replied, “Wow, that is a good question. I just don't know if we can come up with an answer on that one.”
At first I was unsettled by that answer or non-answer. (Don’t such scholars get paid to answer such difficult questions?) But then I realized, as much as I assume Jesus, in his glorified state, knows more than he knew—I still don’t know what he knows and doesn’t know... and that’s okay. Some answers are for us and our children, and some are left only to the mind of God.
What Is Known
Having looked at what is not known concerning that day, we next look at what is known concerning that day. What is known is threefold: First, it will be obvious. Second, it will be awesome. Third, it will be unexpected.
First, it will be obvious. Let me point out what is obvious about this obvious point. Four illustrations are used. Two come from verses 27, 28, if you’ll allow me to go back there. Jesus’ return will be as obvious as lightning flashing from one end of the sky to the other and as obvious as a group of vultures gathering around a dead body. It will also be as obvious as those great lights created on day four of creation turning off—“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven” (v. 29). That darkness then is set in contrast to the heavenly “sign of the Son of Man" (v. 30). We are told that Jesus will return in “great glory” and in such a way that “all the tribes of the earth... will see” him (v. 30; cp. Revelation 1:7). I surmise then that there will be some light about the Light of the World. Perhaps John’s words—“They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (Revelation 22:5b)—sheds some light on this verse. Perhaps also Paul’s phrase “in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) speaks to this. The reason everyone will see him is that he is the only light in the universe, if we are to take the words of verse 29 literally and not metaphorically (they can be either).
The fourth and final illustration is that of the trumpet call. Jesus has used our sense of sight—you will see this and see that. Next he uses our sense of sound. Just in case you miss seeing his return, you will hear it: “And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call” (v. 31). How loud with this trumpet call be? I imagine it will be loud enough for the deaf to hear! The return of Christ will be loud, public, universal, personal, and visible. In other words, it will be obvious.
Second, it will be awesome. Notice the title Jesus uses for himself in relation to his second coming. It is the title “Son of Man." He uses it four times in our text (vv. 30 [twice], 37, 39) and six times in chapter 24. That title does not have to do with Jesus’ humanity but rather his divinely bestowed authority. It is used in Daniel 7:13, a passage in which we learn that “the Ancient of Days” (God Almighty) gave this Son of Man "dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). It’s Daniel’s version of Matthew’s conclusion—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given” to Jesus (28:18).
Other aspects of our text bring out what we can and should know about the awesomeness of Christ’s return. In fact, every phrase of verses 29, 30, and 31 is brimming with Jesus’ power and glory.
• Verse 29: He will appear with a heavenly light show. Whatever is described in that verse, it is an awesome cosmic upheaval. It will make the most incredible fireworks display look amateurish. It will make Halley’s Comet look like two Boy Scouts rubbing sticks together to get a spark.
• Verse 30: Look at the phrases “all the tribes” and “the clouds of heaven” and “with power and great glory.” For everyone to see Jesus coming from Heaven—appearing or arriving (parousia) as the everlasting ruler of this earthly dominion—is another awesome image.
• Verse 31: Note Jesus’ absolute authority—“he” and “his”—“And he will send out his angels... and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” What parousia power! He has the whole world in his hands (v. 30), and he has the whole heavens in his hands too—“from one end of heaven to the other” (v. 31).
J. C. Ryle writes concerning this text (here’s another long quote but a good one):
The second personal coming of Christ will be as different as possible from the first. He came the first time as “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3): he was born in the manger of Bethlehem, in lowliness and humiliation; he took the very nature of a servant, and was despised and not esteemed; he was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, condemned by an unjust judgment, mocked, flogged, crowned with thorns and at last crucified between two thieves. He will come the second time as the King of all the earth, with royal majesty: the princes and great men of this world will themselves stand before his throne to receive an eternal sentence: before him every mouth shall be silenced, and every knee bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Third, it will he unexpected. This is the point of verses 37-44 along with verse 50 (cp. 25:13). Verse 50 tells us that “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.” Then verse 44 summarizes the illustrations of Noah, the two men, and the two women by saying, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
What Then the Wise Person Does
This theme of unexpectedness is what Jesus emphasizes in verses 37-51, and he does so with four illustrations—the flood, the working men and women, the thief in the night, and the two servants or two types of servants. (If preachers ever needed a proof-text for the validity of illustrations, here it is). The point of Jesus’ many illustrations on unexpectedness is to rouse unbelievers and believers to expectancy—that is, to stay awake (vv. 42,43) or to be ready (v. 44) or, put differently and more completely, to be wise.
We turn now to what the wise person does. As at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, here at the end of chapter 24 Jesus contrasts the wise with the foolish. What then does the wise person do?
First, the wise person believes in Jesus and takes him at his word. This is not stated; it’s implied. If you don’t believe Jesus said what is written here or that he has both the power to save and to judge (and that he is actually coming someday to do so), then the call to expectancy falls on deaf ears.
Second, the wise person does good and not evil. To “stay awake” or to "be ready” is more than the attitude of attentiveness. It is also the actions of attentiveness. We are to wait expectantly as we work expectantly. Toward the end of John Calvin’s life, when his friends wanted him to work less for the sake of his declining health, he would often reply to them, “Would you have my Master find me idle?”
Every illustration Jesus uses involves people working. The least obvious is the one about the thief in the night. So let me show you what I see. The idea is this: if you knew a thief was coming tonight, you would do something about it. You would perhaps secure the entrance ways, set up a trap, call the authorities, or grab him before he grabs your stuff—you “would not have let [your] house be broken into” (v. 43).
Perhaps also less obvious is the illustration of Noah and the flood. Jesus gives the story from the perspective of those who were judged—“the careless (or clueless).” But if you see (and of course we know) that story from Noah’s perspective, we know that Noah worked and worked and worked on that big box of a boat. What a picture of expectancy! He had both the attitude (he had to have had it) and the actions of attentiveness. He thought. Judgment is coming. I believe God’s word. I’d better do what he says. I better get to work.
Then we have the illustration of the four workers. Here the theme of work is evident. What is not obvious is what differentiates one worker from the other. Why is one taken and one not? And is “taken” a sign of being saved (cp. 1 Thessalonians 4:17) and “left” a sign of judgment? It’s not clear. However, based on the context of those in Noah’s generation who were taken away by the waters of God’s judgment, I think you may actually want to be “left behind.” Either way, the one who is saved is hard at work on his or her normal, everyday, God-given vocation—in the field or grinding at the mill.
The final illustration is that of "the faithful and wise servant,” who is contrasted with the “wicked servant.” It is interesting to note that one is labeled “wise” and the other (or could it be the same person illustrating two ways to live?) not “foolish” but “wicked.” Look how verses 45, 46 read:
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
Underline “doing.” Doing “good” is implied. I say that based on the fact that this servant is doing what his master asked (and it fits the assumed parallel of v. 49), and we know what the Master or Lord Jesus asked of us—to do unto others as we would like to have done onto ourselves (7:12). We also know what he says about doing good to others in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Moreover, we know what he says about working hard—using our talents—in the Parable of the Talents.
Jesus contrasts this expectant industrialism with different levels of unbelief or faithlessness. The first three illustrations involve people who don’t listen and so don’t care. This is the culture we live in, isn’t it? People are so busy working (“grinding at the mill”) and/or entertaining themselves (“eating and drinking” or perhaps better “wining and dining” or “gorging and guzzling”) that they think preachers like me who preach “repent, judgment is coming” are as crazy as an old man building an ark in the middle of the desert for 120 years (Genesis 6:13, 14; cp. 2 Peter 2:5).
The last illustration—that of the wicked servant—is of someone who does listen (he thinks the master will return) but thinks he has time to live lawlessly. This servant will be his own master, lording over others and loving self. He thinks to himself, “My master is delayed” (v. 48). His Lord is out of sight and thus out of mind (and out of heart?). So what does he do? He doesn’t do anything good. He “begins to beat his fellow servants [that’s not very loving] and eats and drinks with drunkards [that’s not very righteous]” (v. 49). This man is harsh and godless because he believes in cheap grace: he thinks God is not looking and Jesus is not coming when he is sinning.
We all know people like this outside the Ecclesia. But this man seems to be inside the Ecclesia. (That’s the convicting twist of this parable.) Notice that he is called a “servant,” he has “fellow servants,” and he calls Jesus “my master.” He is a professing believer—that is how we would say it. He might even be a Regular Attendee. He might even be a Ecclesial Worker—he works on various committees, helps serve the Emblems, and smiles when you come through the front door.
Perhaps if I was preaching this text to the secular world I’d focus on the flood: don’t be caught unaware; indifference is a damnable offensive; Jesus is coming; repent; believe. But I’m preaching and writing this message to believers—the Ecclesia—and so my focus will fall where Jesus’ did—on the wicked servant. Thus my message to you is this: don't be caught unaware; indifference is a damnable offensive; Jesus is coming; repent; believe.
Wait! That’s the same message. Yes, it is.
I know from experience that someone in this state of spiritual stupidity needs a loud wake-up call. The church-goer/church-doer can be most deaf to the call of Christ. Jesus knows this as well. That is why he will give three parables on it in chapter 25 and also why he ends this short parable the way he does. His call comes in verses 50, 51. Tremble, if you must, at the sound of this trumpet, for “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
But if that wicked servant says to himself, “My master is delayed,” and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (vv. 48-51)
The most neglected theme in the modern church is the theme of judgment. The second most neglected theme is the theme that the Ecclesia shall be judged: “judgment [will]... begin with the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
The third most neglected theme is the theme that the individual Believer shall stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account for what he has done (16:27; cp. Romans 14:12).
Other than a few short lines in a few verses, the emphasis Jesus gives in our text to his second coming is not that of salvation but of judgment. Before Jesus goes to the cross in chapters 26, 27, he first judges the world and the Ecclesia in chapters 23, 24, and 25.
Judgment is not a dirty word. It’s not a bad word. It’s not an old covenant word. It’s a holy word. It’s a good word. It’s a new covenant word. It’s a word from Jesus, the loving Lord of the universe. If your father or mother told you, “The stove is hot, don’t touch it, you’ll get burned," that’s a warning that comes from love. If your Savior told you, “Unbelief and evil behavior is harmful, don’t touch, you’ll be damned,” that’s a warning that comes from love. The godless guru and the sentimental swami speak only of love but know nothing about love. If judgment is a reality, then love warns of judgment. And here the Lord of love warns his Ecclesia, especially those spiritually asleep within it that “the wicked will not stand in the judgment” (Psalm 1:5). They will be cut to pieces (v. 51, a graphic image of divine retribution) and assigned a place (“the grave,” as Jesus calls it elsewhere) where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That is another graphic image, this time an image of regret—“I knew better"—and sorrow and perhaps rage toward God.
The wise person believes in Jesus and takes him at his word. The wise person does good and not evil. And the wise person thinks and feels and acts those ways because the wise person believes that Jesus is coming soon to judge the living and the dead and that he brings with him punishment for the wicked (vv. 50, 51) and reward for the righteous (v. 47).
Jesus pulls and pushes us forward with his blessings—the Master will give the wise servant charge of “all his possessions” (v. 47) (wow!). But he grabs us from the pit with his warnings. There are woos and woes of salvation. Those are the ways Christ helps us finish the race set before us.
Last Things First
In our day, as has been true throughout Ecclesiastical history, Jesus’ clear teaching on the end times has been ignored. We do not know the day or hour. Yet, what is also sadly ignored often in our circles is that the last things should be first. We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know for certain that he will. And that should keep us busy building up and longing for the kingdom.
It was Martin Luther, I believe, who said that “Christians should live as if Jesus had died this morning, risen this afternoon, and was coming this evening.” And it was Jonathan Edwards, I’m certain, who wrote in his famous resolutions:
Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life...
Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.
We need cool heads when the ecclesial oddballs give their strange speculations and when the evangelical eccentrics tell us the Bible can tell us all we need to know about modem science, American politics, and the end-of-the-world calendar. But we also need warm hearts, hearts that resolve to live as though Jesus could return this moment, and hearts that cry out through all the false apocalyptic fervor with true apocalyptic fervor, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
(R. Kent Hughes. and Douglas Sean O'Donnell., 2013; edited Carl Hinton., 2020)